Review: THE MURDER EXPRESS: JEWEL OF THE EMPIRE, Pedley Street Station

It's 1937. The largest cut diamond is being transported by train from London to the French town of Murdér amidst a crowd of socialites and odd characters who are travelling to the south of France for different reasons. Suddenly, the jewel disappears from its stand and an investigation kicks off.

Funicular's new venture in dining at Pedley Street Station sees the company teaming up with the 2018 winner of MasterChef: The Professionals, Laurence Henry. The dining experiences catered by Funicular have become a staple these past years and their latest production shows an original and inventive textual side.

The script owns up to its playful tackiness and lands proper laughs. However, a bothersome colonialist vein runs through it, which is unfortunate in nature and execution when it pops out towards the end of the first half.

From the investigator's fake French accent to Vera Valentine's snooty wordings, the cast is expectedly bubbly in their overacting but they all curiously fit together in the slightly surreal and messy plot that doesn't tie all its loose ends.

A more adult and cheeky approach compared to their Christmast show, Jewel of the Empire indulges its guests but doesn't fully satisfy any substantial thematical cravings.

Henry curates an exciting spread, hints of freshness come straight off from the amouse-bouch with the cherry tomato gazpacho jelly and culminates with a strawberry and white chocolate panna cotta.

The evening is one of unpretentious entertainment that delivers what's promised accompanied by a titillating menu.

The Murdér Express: Jewel of the Empire runs at Pedley Street Station until 31 August.

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